THEME I Becoming a Teaching and Learning Community

Report # 3 on Theme I, Issue No.1: Survey of Learning Communities at CSUSB

Perhaps tired of the peripatetic life, Plato founded the Academy in Athens in 387 as a means of engaging in systematic scientific and philosophical inquiry. This was not the first learning community (Pythagoras' brotherhood at Croton preceded Plato's efforts by two hundred years), but it shared characteristics of contemporary successful learning communities: a mutual commitment to learning on the part of participants, a joint space and time for such pursuits, and a shared disciplinary focus (or alternatively, a dedication to interdisciplinary inquiry).

Exemplars of such efforts can be seen at CSUSB in every academic college, in a variety of departmental settings. In 2002, each department and office on campus was asked to supply examples of their best educational practices and what constituted or fostered "learning community" in their department. This Survey of Educational Practices and Learning Community at CSUSB revealed a mosaic of practices and a well-embedded focus on developing community in most programs. (See http://thewasc.csusb.edu/ edueffrev/thm1/appendix/i1/InvLearnCommEducPrac.pdf)

Together, CSUSB's various learning communities comprise a complex and differentiated model of what constitutes success. This model includes facets of faculty involvement, including research apprenticeship, mentoring and outreach; community connections at many levels and in many types of activities; and support for students' intellectual, social, and pre-professional growth. After a survey of representative departments, a conclusion features a comprehensive summary of what constitutes an exemplary learning community.

The Department of Biology in the College of Natural Sciences offers the opportunity for active student involvement in a score of supervised student research projects, and hosts a Biology Club for students that sponsors the Biology Student Research Colloquium along with departmental seminars presented by students. Affiliated with the department are the American Medical Student Association and the Medical Association of Pre-professional Students. The active involvement of faculty in collaboration with colleagues at leading science research facilities (Duke, Loma Linda, University of Texas, and UC Riverside) offers students the opportunity to participate in cutting-edge science investigation. Building on course-related laboratory training, students have achieved a high rate of acceptance into medical, dental, optometry, and pharmacy schools, in addition to competitive masters and doctoral programs. This community of learners is one that uses a research apprenticeship approach to prepare graduate and undergraduates for participation in a wider professional context.

An infrastructure of tutors and mentors funded by the National Science Foundation's MII grant program has helped the Department of Computer Science to involve the entire department faculty in maintaining a high level of responsiveness to industry demands for well-prepared graduates. Partnerships with local and regional computer enterprises (ESRI in Redlands, Cabletron, Auspex, Bay Networks, Star Comm, etc .) have provided hardware and software that are used in various departmental research and educational efforts. By building a learning community that is virtual as well as physical, the Department of Computer Science has built a technical-, research-based interdependency that binds students, faculty, and industry in a productive symbiosis. The department has joined with the departments of mathematics, physics and chemistry in such joint efforts as the NSF CSEMS grant to prepare graduates with multidisciplinary training so that they are well prepared for employability in local software, technological, and business environments. The key to the success of this learning community is a successful pursuit of outside funding to sustain a broad foundation for student learning in several connected disciplines, intellectual support for students through tutoring and mentoring, and close partnerships with related industry.

Just as the terrain of San Bernardino is active geologically, so is the Department of Geological Sciences in involving students in a multitude of local and regional connections. This department links student with local schools, foundations, and researchers, including field trips, internships, collaborations with research entities such as the Water Resources Institute, and participation in student research competitions and presentations at the Geological Society of America. An Earth Science Pipeline provides support for ethnically underrepresented students. This learning community is based in the faculty's active encouragement of student involvement within and outside of classroom assignment.

The Department of Health Science and Human Ecology hosts evening "Meet the Professional" gatherings that connect students with local health care professionals via efforts of the Eta Sigma Gamma chapter of a national health education honorary society. Students have assisted local community agencies with grant-writing, and have been able to follow through as the grant is implemented. Two successful conferences on peer education about AIDS have gained the department recognition for its health issues education' programs. The learning community based in this department is a node in a local network of health education professionals that, inducts students into pre-professional collegiality.

A Kinesiology faculty that is active both locally and nationally in research, teaching, and service uses these connections to involve students in research and service activities. Students in the program practice teach at the nearby Hillside-University Demonstration School, and the dance group performs at local community programs each year. This is an example of a learning community in which faculty serve as exemplars of research and service.

Nursing as a learning community is tied closely through the Inland Empire, and the Department of Nursing at CSUSB is an integral partner. Coyote Nurses, the undergraduate student nurses' organization, hosts the Sophomore Orientation and Picnic, Peer Advising, and such community outreach activities as "AIDS Walk" and "Make a Difference Day." CSUSB's chapter of the International Nursing Honor Society supports an annual regional nursing research conference and Senior Presentation Day. The Statewide Health Professionals Occupation Program has supplied funding for recruitment and retention. The high level of rate of passing on nursing licensure exams, high employer satisfaction, and recent high marks on accreditation visits provide evidence that this learning community successfully balances intellectual, social, and pre-professional activities.

Close working relationships with local agencies provides site-based support for students and interns alike in the Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences. The Nutrition Student Association fosters student participation in state and local dietetic associations, and students are encouraged to network with professionals in local service centers. A high passage rate for national Registration Exams for dietitians provides evidence of the strong academic preparation for graduates.

The Department of Mathematics prepares students for research under the auspices of an NSF REU grant, which brings qualified students together for summer work from all over the United States. This creates a learning community drawn from far and wide which disperses again, enriched by the experience of having attended CSUSB. Students who graduate from the mathematics major continue to serve locally as math teachers in K-12 or serve as actuaries in the world of business; master's students work in local community colleges. The department serves CSUSB undergraduates by hosting the Intensive Mathematics Program for students who fail the ELM. Thus this learning community serves the US as a whole, the local service area, and CSUSB itself.

In the College of Arts and Letters, many academic departments demonstrate exemplary learning communities. Communication Studies offers the opportunity to participate in the Coyote Radio Club, Coyote Chronicle newspaper, the debate program, and the Public Relations Society of America. Students are encouraged to attend a variety of professional conferences in such professions as broadcasting, computer music, rhetorical criticism, and communication. A mentoring program connects CSUSB with San Bernardino Valley College to allow graduate students to "job shadow" community college instructors, as well as provides teaching assistantships in campus for an undergraduate public speaking course. A potential link with a university in South Korea has been proposed that will link students with Korean faculty, peers, and coursework via Internet conferencing. This exemplifies a learning community whose borders extend internationally.

The English Department has an active English Club which offers job information for English majors, poetry readings and literature discussions, and outings to plays and museums. A regular Friday Forum offers students and faculty an opportunity to present current work, while an Honors Colloquium showcases the research of honors students. Students and faculty present together at national conferences. The literary magazine Pacific Review is published by CSUSB students working with a faculty adviser; a local creative writing contest spurs local students to submit poems and short stories. Several writing faculty members conduct a seminar for faculty in a writing-across-the-curriculum course given yearly. This learning community features a set of interlocking communities--creative or critical--that work independently or interdependently.

The Department of Theater Arts raises money for scholarships through the Players of the Pear Garden, a student-run theater group that tours elementary schools. Participation in competitions such as the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival and the California Educational Theater Association have occasionally engendered national award-winning entries. Both creative and technical theater interns have won slots in competitive summer theater and programs of advanced study. A robust theater schedule each academic year involves students during and after class in creative endeavors, many of which win critical acclaim in local newspapers. High school theater festivals as well as the Coyote Conservatory for the Arts in downtown San Bernardino keep talent flowing through a developmental pipeline extending from the local community through CSUSB to professional theaters across the United States and around the world.

Foreign languages play a major role in internationalizing the curriculum at CSUSB. The Department of Foreign Languages' annual banquet celebrates the community of foreign language scholars locally, and at CSUSB, offering a chance for linguists to socialize and network. FLAGS (Foreign Language Advisement and Guidance for Students) is a peer-tutoring program provided as a service to prospective majors. The Spanish program fields diverse opportunities for student involvement, from a Spanish club, luncheon table, honor society, university Spanish theater, pronunciation contest, tutoring center, student-run journal, Tijuana field trip, and summer program at the University of Toluca in Mexico. The Latin American Studies minor offers the first area studies program in the Department. The French Club and German Club are also active. Many classes include a service learning component.

The Philosophy Department offers a formal club to students, and well as ample opportunities for informal philosophizing over beer at the pub! Graduates have attended prestigious postgraduate training, and those who have not, at least have learned to take their defeats philosophically.

In the College of Business and Public Administration, the Department of Accounting and Finance maintains the Arrowhead Lab for Security Analysis, a teaching facility in finance that has become a center for learning about investment in the Inland Empire. Students in the department assist in the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program, a service to the larger community. Students participate in the honor society, Beta Alpha Psi.

The Department of Management sponsors Students of International Business and the Latino Business Students' Association, as well as student participation in the Institute of Applied Research and the Inland Empire Center for Entrepreneurship. The CSUSB MBA team won first place in the 38th International Collegiate Business Strategy Competition in 2002, making this the fourth year of awards in this highly competitive contest.

The teacher education programs in the College of Education works closely with local and regional partnerships to sustain one of the largest student enrollments in California. An active partnership with two local county offices of education have resulted in funding for intern and teacher career support programs. Students have been successful in obtaining awards from the competitive Governor's Teaching Fellowship Program to fund their career preparation.

The Career and Technical Education Program in the College of Education hosts the Epsilon Pi Tau International Honor Fraternity. Students in this career field are drawn from a variety of educational and career preparation sites in the Inland Empire, and participate in training through on-site as well as distance-learning educational options.

The Department of Language, Literacy, and Culture in the College of Education has achieved a high pass rate on the state-mandated Reading Instruction Competence Assessment, largely due to intensive test-preparation course offered to students through department funds. Several alumnae of the reading program have returned to teach for the department.

The M. A. in Education, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages Option program in the College of Education attracts candidates locally as well as from a variety of countries around the world. A variety of activities within each course constitute deliberate attempts to create a community of learners within the class, especially to unite native speakers of English with non-native speakers in interdependent professional relationships. To this end, students frequently engage in intercultural communication on topics of mutual interest. Students are placed in fieldwork sites at the CSUSB American Culture and Language Program as well as at local and regional partnership schools. Alumni of the program have co-presented with faculty at regional and state conferences, and have assumed leadership positions in schools locally and abroad.

In the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences, the Department of Anthropology has an active student club, ALPACA, that organizes colloquia, field trips, a listserv, and social events. Students have found a physical place to congregate in the Anthropology Department Computer Lab staffed by work study students. To achieve even closer propinquity, students may attend a summer residential field camp in the San Bernardino Forest. Students have been placed in a wide variety of internships through the Inland Empire, including service with Native American groups, homeless shelters, museums, private archeological consulting companies, HMOS, and courts of law.

Criminal Justice offers about 20 students per year the opportunity to work in the Crime Prevention and Analysis Laboratory (supporting a profession that has sustained a boost of interest with recent television series such as Miami CSI). An active honors program, a yearly career day program, and internships in local criminal justice agencies help students to experience professions such as public safety, crime prevention, crime analysis, and crime mapping.

The Department of Economics uses its relatively small size to keep on close contact with students and alumni. The Political Economy Club and the Center for Economics Education offer students the chance to engage with policy bodies, work with students of similar interest on academic projects in economics, and to socialize. Intern programs involve students with local congressmen, the National Forest, and the City of San Bernardino.

Ethnic Studies as a program brings speakers to campus who have information to share about ethnic relations, whether locally, regionally, or nationally. Workshops connected with the showing of movies or with the visits of speakers help students to engage in discussions on issues of relevance to diversity or social justice.

The Department of Geography's Geography Club arranges field trips and outings for students and faculty, as well-as fund-raisers on campus. "Brown bag" discussion sessions treat topics of jobs, advisement, and other mentoring. A Visiting Scholars program brings in researchers from other campuses for colloquia. Students have had success participating in research competitions with the Association of Pacific Coast Geographers and the Association of American Geographers.

The History Department has two student clubs and an honors program. Faculty are involved with alumni who teach in local schools, with responsibilities as varied as membership on the National Academic Council of the College Board and trainers for College Board Advanced Placement workshops. Faculty who are active in professional leadership roles serve as models for students in this regard.

Political science is a profession that trains leaders, and the Department of Political Science at CSUSB is no exception. The Model United Nations has won the "Best Delegation" award in 5 of its 6 recent competitions, and the Model Arab League of States has taken the Best Delegation award 12 times. These skills are sorely needed in these troubled times.

Psychology is a department noted for the number of awards won by student researchers. Of those students graduating from the M. A. program in Behavioral/Experimental Psychology, 81 percent have gone on to doctoral programs. Internships throughout the community supplement the extensive number of student clubs on campus (four clubs, an honors program, an honor society, and a peer advising center) to draw students together into a learning community.

Social Work as a department is extensively engaged with the larger community, fielding 130-150 students at a time in internships with about 50 local agencies. Leadership positions in the community are filled with CSUSB graduates, indicating a high degree of professional skills.

The Department of Sociology's student club sponsors speakers and an annual job fair. The department honors program sponsors faculty-student joint research. In addition, the department faculty members are frequent mentors in the McNair program for undergraduate research fellows. The department sponsors the Bulgarella Award for the graduating senior with the best research paper.

Many non-academic programs and service facilities on campus foster learning communities as part of staff development programs. The Pfau Library staff are an excellent example, although professional librarians are considered faculty and their teaching/learning activities are rightfully cast as academic in nature. Staff members across campus are active in their professional organizations, winning awards for achievement, leaderships, and service. As new programs are instituted across campus, staff members are continually expected to learn new skills, interact with collegiality and professionalism, and to teach and lead others. Exemplars of these communities are found in the Appendix.

Overall, learning communities at CSUSB are as varied as the disciplines. There are many existing models of learning communities on this campus. Some are intentional and highly structured, some are simple embedded the fabric of the departmental culture and the historic practices of the discipline. To summarize these activities, a comprehensive model of a successful learning community was extracted from an analysis of the academic departments presented above. (See Learning Community Components document http://thewasc.csusb.edu/edueffrev/thm1/appendix/i1/LearnComComp.pdf) In conclusion, 24 separate components or attributes of learning community were found at CSUSB: